NJ Transit riders who don't buy a ticket before boarding now subject to a $5 surcharge

Amanda Brown/The Star-LedgerBeginning today, NJ Transit riders who don’t buy a ticket before they board their train will be subject to a $5 surcharge on top of the ticket price.

NEWARK — Beginning today, NJ Transit riders who don’t buy a ticket before they board their train will be subject to a $5 surcharge on top of the ticket price.

The policy had already been in place at stations where ticket vending machines or ticket agents were available.

Now that vending machines have been installed at all stations — most recently on the North Jersey Coast Line from Long Branch to Bay Head, the Raritan Valley Line from Raritan to High Bridge and Gladstone Branch from Summit to Gladstone, among other stations — NJ Transit is making the policy universal.

In the past, conductors who collected the tickets also had to sell them, taking away from their other duties.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said the goal is to have as many passengers as possible purchase tickets before boarding the trains "so that the crews can do what they are trained to do."